Deadline has recently confirmed existing rumours that Daniel Craig will play the secret agent in at least two more Bond films, in addition to this year’s latest 007 release, Skyfall, due out in November. Craig made his debut as Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale, and has been largely lauded for his portrayal of a more human and rougher Bond. Skyfall will be the first Bond film in four years since the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008.

If Craig sees out completion of the five films that he’s committed himself to, he'll be able to call himself the third longest serving Bond—following on from Bond greats Sean Connery and Roger Moore who starred in the role seven times each.

James Bond premiere to benefit spies - 9th September 2012...

Funds raised at the world premiere of the new James Bond film will be used to help real members of Britain's security services.

Skyfall, the 23rd movie in the series, sees Daniel Craig assume the role of 007 for a third time on the big screen.

It gets its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 23, attended by the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

Charles has asked for the screening to benefit charities that support members of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Security Service (MI5) and GCHQ.

Craig, 44, is expected to attend the premiere as well as Dame Judi Dench, who returns to the film as M.

Film bosses have tried to keep a lid on the plot for Skyfall, but have released tasters of the action in trailers.

Bond's loyalty to his boss M is tested to the limit as MI6 comes under attack and 007 has to trace and destroy the threat.

Producers of the film said: "We are thrilled His Royal Highness Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have agreed to attend the world premiere of our latest James Bond film.

"(We) are pleased this event will help raise funds to support the Prince's chosen charities."

Skyfall is due to be released in the UK on October 26, and will be the first James Bond film to be released in IMAX venues.

The film's release will coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary, which began with Dr No in 1962.

Craig played Bond in a short film, Happy And Glorious, made by the BBC and directed by Danny Boyle as part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

It saw Bond summoned to Buckingham Palace by the Queen - playing herself - before escorting her by helicopter to the Olympic Stadium.

Bond and Her Majesty then jump from the helicopter into the stadium with Union Flag parachutes.

After the film ended, the Queen reappeared and formally opened the Games.

James Cameron planning 'Avatar' prequel...

James Cameron is planning to make an 'Avatar' prequel.

The 'Titanic' director revealed he has 'an idea for a fourth' movie in the franchise and revealed that the forthcoming motion picture will tell the story of the 'early expeditions' on the moon Pandora.

He told MTV News: 'I haven't really put pen to paper on it, but basically it goes back to the early expeditions of Pandora, and kind of what went wrong with the humans and the Na'vi and what that was like to be an explorer and living in that world.'

Producer Jon Landau revealed earlier this year that the director and crew will be shooting the second and third film back-to-back, with Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington rumoured to be returning as lovers Neytiri and Jake Sully.

James also revealed he is keen to introduce some new characters to the franchise.

He explained: 'The only thing left to do is go back to see what it was like on those first expeditions and create some new characters that then become legacy characters in later films.'

James described the process of writing the scripts as 'daunting' and compared it to Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' franchise, which is based on the book series by J.R.R. Tolkien.

He added: 'You know, Peter Jackson had it easy, he already had the books. He had the books.

'Now if I had a time machine I could go forward and watch the movies and then come back, but I don't!'

Elvis's Bible sells for $91,000...

A Bible which once belonged to Elvis Presley and contains his handwritten notes and thoughts has sold for 59,000 pounds ($91,000) at an auction in England, the auction house said.

The Bible, given to the singer on his first Christmas at his home in Graceland in 1957, was bought by an American man based in Britain, Omega Auctions said on its website.

The religious book, used by Presley until his death on August 16, 1977, was expected to fetch around 25,000 pounds but went for more than double its value.

But a pair of Presley's unwashed and soiled underpants, worn underneath his famous white jumpsuit during a 1977 concert, went unsold.

Bids for the underwear reached 5,000 pounds but failed to meet the reserve price of 7,000 pounds.

Some of the singer's other personal items sold at the auction included used cufflinks, a gold pendant chain/necklace and black Flagg Brothers shoes.

The entire Elvis collection, owned by a single British collector, went for more than 100,000 pounds at Omega Auctions in Cheshire, north England. (Reuters)

Warhol's Brando may fetch $20m...

An Andy Warhol silkscreen of actor Marlon Brando, clad in leather astride a motorcycle from the movie The Wild One, is expected to sell for $US20 million when it hits the auction block in November.

Marlon, a 1966 silkscreen that is one of the late pop artist's most famous Hollywood portraits, will be part of Christie's sale of post-war and contemporary art.

It is being sold from the collection of businessman and Museum of Modern Art trustee Donald L Bryant Jr.

"Alongside his portraits of Elvis Presley, Warhol's image of Marlon Brando exudes a raw sexuality and intense power rarely found in his work," Christie's chairman for post-war and contemporary art, Brett Gorvy, said.

The image of Brando was taken from a publicity photo for the 1953 movie about motorcycle gangs.

Marlon will be sold at Christie's New York headquarters on November 14.

The sale coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit of works by Warhol.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, established in 1987 at the late artist's direction, said on Wednesday that over a period of years it would sell through Christie's, paintings, photos and other works by Warhol.

"The Foundation also plans to mark its 25th anniversary by making additional gifts of significant works to museums, continuing its long history of donating Warhol's art," it said in a joint statement with Christie's.

A four-panel self-portrait, Warhol's first, commanded $US38.4 million in May 2011, and his Double Marlon, another Brando-inspired work from 1966, sold for $US32.5 million in 2008.

Four months ago, a Warhol work featuring Elvis Presley sold for $US37 million at Sotheby's. (Reuters)

Strikes to hit Crown Casino - 13th September 2012...

Strikes are likely to hit Crown casino from tomorrow, with about 100 maintenance staff threatening to stop work in premium gaming areas, and much of the casino's gaming floor, after talks between the venue and unions broke down.

Two unions - the Electrical Trades Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union - applied last month to take protected industrial action against Crown as three-month-long negotiations over a new pay deal dragged on.

A range of the two unions' proposed strike actions have now been approved by the national industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia, and staff will begin their campaign tomorrow.
Staff who will take part in the industrial action include carpenters, electricians, plumbers, upholsterers and other maintenance employees.

*Stopping repairs on toilet doors, all furniture and all airconditioning in hotel rooms.

*Abandoning any planned or emergency repairs to the casino's stoves, fridges, grills or other kitchen appliances.

*A series of four-hour, 24-hour or indefinite stoppages.

The only work that would be done in kitchens under the threatened strike action would be making electrical appliances safe, and tagging them out of service.

ETU organiser Howard Worthing said the casino's high-roller areas would be the first disrupted.

"We have been negotiating with Crown for three months and last Friday negotiations broke down," he said.

Mr Worthing said the casino's refusal to negotiate further had left union members no option.
A spokesman for Crown, Gary O'Neill, said the casino was disappointed negotiations had broken down.

"There is obviously an element of ambit claim in this by the union; there is still a significant gap between what [they] want and what Crown is offering." He said Crown's maintenance staff were paid an average of around $90,000 a year, including superannuation. "Our property services people are paid at similar rates to similar venues around the country." (Fairfax Media)

WWE leans toward launching pay-TV channel...

Are there enough John Cena and Triple H fans to justify the launch of a WWE pay cable channel?

That's what WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and the rest of the executive team are going to be wrestling with for the next few months.

More than three years ago, McMahon unveiled plans to create a WWE cable channel that would capitalize on the company's vast library as well as feature new programming. But since then there have been lots of fits and starts and delays but no channel and little about it coming out of the WWE. Wall Street is eager to see movement because WWE has been telling investors it thinks having its own distribution platform could be a game changer for the company.

"You guys need to say more than you have," an exasperated Brad Safalow, an analyst with PAA Research, said on the WWE's second-quarter-earnings call last month. McMahon promised more clarity on the company's next earnings call. So far, WWE has spent about $40 million developing a programming service, according to its financial filings.

The reason WWE is being cagey is that it is still not sure what kind of channel it will launch. Originally, WWE wanted to build a broadly distributed commercial channel with hopes of getting a subscription fee in the neighborhood of 20 cents per month per subscriber.

However, not only is space tight on most cable and satellite systems, there were concerns about the amount of WWE content already available limiting the growth potential of a stand-alone commercial network. WWE has shows on the USA and Syfy cable channels and a new program for the ION broadcast network. It is also producing a kids show for the CW Network.

"Clearly the cable operators didn’t view what they brought to market as compelling enough," said Safalow in an interview.

Now the WWE is switching gears and focusing its efforts on creating an HBO-like pay cable channel that consumers would order on an individual basis and that would be commercial-free, people familiar with the company's thinking said.

On paper, the WWE certainly has a base to support such a venture. It produces a dozen pay-per-view events every year. In 2012, through eight events, WWE is averaging 250,000 buys in the United States. "Wrestlemania," its biggest event, had 850,000 buys. Add in international purchases and those figures grow by several hundred thousand. The price tag for WWE's pay-per-view programming is $44.95, except for "Wrestlemania," which goes for $54.95.

If WWE goes forward with a premium channel, it would likely place some or most of its pay-per-view events (which besides "Wrestlemania" includes "Summer Slam" and "Royal Rumble") on the network to entice people to sign up. That does not mean WWE would get out of its lucrative pay-per-view business. It will try to have its cake and eat it too by continuing to offer its events on pay-per-view for nonsubscribers. Also, "Wrestlemania" would likely remain strictly a pay-per-view event.

The price tag WWE would seek for a premium channel would be north of $10.00 a month and perhaps as much as $15.00, which would be cheaper than buying all or even half of the pay-per-view events. Typically, the subscription fee is split 50-50 between the programmer and distributor.

Besides its pay-per-view content, WWE would also create some new shows that would complement its content on other channels and use its library fare as well.

"Subscribing to the network would be a 'no brainer' for the company's hardcore fans," Safalow wrote in a recent report. Safalow said he anticipates a price of $14.95 for the channel and that WWE should be able to get 400,000 subscribers out of the gate and almost double that in two years. In 2014 Safalow projects that a pay channel could add as much as $141.6 million in revenue to WWE.

Whether pay-TV distributors will be on board remains to be seen. The PPV revenue that WWE generates for cable and satellite operators is not insignificant. There may be fears that making the majority of that fare available on the channel too will hurt the pay-per-view business without proof that there is enough appetite to sustain a full-time network.

The WWE is still not ready to declare what type of channel it is planning. George Barrios, the WWE's chief financial officer would only say: "The WWE Network in any form is a transformative opportunity if we execute it right." As for the growing impatience on Wall Street over the network, Barrios said: "It is taking the appropriate amount of time for us to identify the best strategic and financial opportunity.”
Despite the slow pace of the channel's development, analysts such as Safalow are not ready to throw in the towel. The WWE's recently launched YouTube channel WWE FanNation has already become one of the most popular outlets on the site with more than 600,000 subscribers, an amount that Safalow feels is further proof that there is a market for a cable outlet.

"Vince is a very competitive empire builder," Safalow said. "Whether you like him or what his product is, he runs a very good business and has a very long history of building upon his success." (LA Times)

George Clooney Reportedly Splits From Stacy Keibler...

Actor George Clooney has split from former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler, The Sun reports.
Keibler reportedly told her friends her relationship with Clooney is over. A statement is expected any day announcing the couple have split amicably.

A friend of Keibler's told the publication, "She said George wants to be on his own again and has no intention of getting married. Stacy hoped they would be together long-term. It was a big breakthrough to spend time with his parents. But over the last few weeks George has pulled away from her."

The couple had been romantically linked for over a year.

Contest searches for best sports gamers...

EA Sports and Virgin Gaming are teaming up to find the best sports video game players in the world, ultimately awarding $1 million in prize money to the best of the best.

That’s $400,000 in prize money to the top “Madden NFL 13” players, $400,000 to the top “FIFA 13” players and $200,000 to the best “NHL 13” gamers as the EA Sports Challenge Series weeds out skilled contenders from online pretenders exclusively on the PlayStation 3, with the finals taking place Feb. 9 in Las Vegas.

Gamers who purchase the title they wish to compete in at GameStop will be given a code for free entry into the tournament. Otherwise, the play-in fee will cost you $10 per EA Sports title. (You can enter all three tournaments if you think you’re good enough.)

This is the second season Virgin Gaming has been in charge of the EA Sports Challenge Series, and according to VG co-founders Billy Levy and Zachary Zeldin, the company learned a great deal from the competition’s debut a year ago, and they’re applying the lessons learned over the course of their rookie campaign to the second season of the massive tournament.

“This year, Challenge Series is launching two weeks after the release of ‘Madden 13,’ then two weeks after the ‘NHL’ launch we’ll launch that tournament, and the same with ‘FIFA’," Levy said. "Last year we didn’t start Challenge Series until December, but a lot of players wanted to start playing and competing once they got their games. When we got to the live finals, so many people came up to us and asked why we waited so long to start, so we’re starting it a lot earlier this year.

“We had over 100,000 people sign up and play online last year, and then when it came to the live finals, we had never done an event that big. But now after running it successfully online and seeing how the live final played out, this year we’re a lot more coordinated in order to provide the best experience possible.”

The structure of the tournament has also changed, streamlining the process in order to make things simpler for gamers trying to advance to the live final.

“Instead of doing a Qualifier A and a Qualifier B round like we did last year, now it’s just one straight set,” Zeldin says. “Buy your copy of ‘Madden,’ ‘NHL,’ or ‘FIFA’ from GameStop and you get automatic entry into round one, otherwise you have to pay $10 to enter. Win four games in the qualifier, and the first 1,024 people for ‘Madden’ and ‘FIFA’ and the first 512 people for ‘NHL’ make it into the online bracketed final. What happens then is the bracketed tournament starts Jan. 7 for ‘Madden,’ Jan. 8 for ‘FIFA’ and Jan. 9 for ‘NHL,’ and we play the first two rounds of this tournament online from the comforts of your own couch. If you win the first two rounds, not only are you guaranteed a pretty good prize, but you’re guaranteed a seat at the Challenge Series live final in Vegas with a chance to win the grand prize.”

While gamers who qualify for the live event will need to pay their own way to Vegas for the final, Virgin Gaming will be holding additional tournaments leading up to the championship where gamers will be able to win flights and hotel accommodations.

“We were able to work with a lot of the big hotels in Las Vegas in order to offer some deeply discounted room rates for players,” Levy adds. “There are going to be discounts on all of the MGM property hotels.”

Levy and Zeldin already know three people who can’t wait to make reservations.

“There’s a lot of smack talk going on already from last year’s winners,” Levy says with a laugh. “All three of them have guaranteed a repeat.”

The “Madden NFL 13” online tournament starts Tuesday. For official rules, check out the official Challenge Series website.

WWE issued a new statement on Jerry Lawler's condition Monday night following Raw, as published by Deadline Hollywood: "The WWE Hall of Famer collapsed at the announcers’ table and was tended to in the locker room area by WWE medical staff. Lawler was then taken from the arena to a medical facility in Montreal. He is stable and breathing on his own."

***

During Raw on WWE's website: "WWE.com has learned that the WWE Hall of Famer collapsed at the announcers's table and was tended to in the locker room area by WWE medical staff. Lawler was then taken from the arena to a medical facility in Montreal." This followed an announcement by Michael Cole during Raw that Lawler was given CPR backstage.

CNN TV - Flair interviewed on Lawler...

Ric Flair appeared on CNN Headline News's "Evening Express" Tuesday evening to discuss Jerry Lawler's heart attack during Raw. Flair defended Lawler, 62, wrestling at his age and WWE allowing Lawler to be physically involved in WWE shows, saying he believes Lawler is more qualified to wrestle than many other wrestlers on the roster because he has 40 years of in-ring experience and some younger wrestlers on the roster have five or fewer years of experience.

Flair added that "great medical advances" have been made to protect wrestlers and the medical care available ringside and backstage probably saved his life. Flair concluded the interview: "Nobody made Jerry get in the ring. He got in the ring because he's a great pro."

NICK HOGAN: Jerry Lawler Should Quit Wrestling After Heart Attack...

Hulk Hogan's son Nick Hogan is incredibly relieved that Jerry "The King" Lawler has stabilized since his heart attack Monday night -- but tells TMZ, it might be time Lawler considered retirement.

Nick tells us, wrestling "takes a toll" on your body -- and as a result, "most guys retire around 50ish." Lawler is 62.

According to Nick, people in the wrestling business have varied career lengths -- but when injuries come into play, it's hard to ignore the obvious ... it's time to slow down.

Nick uses his own dad as an example -- saying even his 59-year-old father has cut back drastically on wrestling because of serious back injuries.

LONDON, Aug 31 - Internet betting firm Bwin.party Digital Entertainment PLC said it would seek to give its poker products a makeover to halt declining revenues in the game and see off competition from a resurgent PokerStars.

The world's largest online gaming group reported first half earnings up 13 percent to 92 million euros on Friday, slightly ahead of market expectations, as strong takings from sports and casino betting offset the weakness in poker and increased taxes.

It said average net daily revenues in July and August were down 8 percent versus the second quarter, affected by a later that usual start to the German football league - delayed due to the timing of the London Olympics - but that it remained confident on its full year result.

Bwin, which launched in Spain in 2012 after internet betting was allowed there for the first time, said economic woes in southern Europe had also had an impact.

"It has been difficult for us, the two markets that have been most challenging have been Italy and Spain. Last year we saw a significant dip in Greece but actually Greece now seems to be levelling out a bit," said Chief Financial Officer Martin Weigold on a call to journalists.
Faced with declining poker revenues across Europe, bwin said it would focus on renewing its poker products, aiming to do more to attract and keep casual players and introducing mobile poker games.

"We believe we have to differentiate ourselves in this market and to make sure we pick up our share and remain competitive especially against a backdrop of an ever strengthening PokerStars," said co-CEO Jim Ryan.

Earlier this month, popular online poker firm PokerStars settled a fraud complaint with U.S. authorities, setting the stage for it to re-enter the U.S. market.

"There is a lot of work going on under the bonnet at bwin.party but much of this is being overshadowed by regulatory developments and structural challenges in the poker market," said analysts at Peel Hunt. "There doesn't appear to be a need to rush in," the broker said, maintaining its 'hold' on the stock."

Bwin shares, which have fallen over 40 percent since February, were down 2 percent to 97 pence at 07:33 GMT. (Reuters)

Casino Gambling Bwin.Party H1-2012 Financial Results...

One of the biggest internet casino gambling operators worldwide has issued its financial reports for the first half of 2012 (H1 – 2012). This operator is none other than Bwin.Party. The numbers from the financial reports indicate an increase of 3% in the total pro forma revenue when compared to the same period of 2011. The revenues reached an outstanding four hundred and ten million Euros. The actual net revenues for the first half of 2012 witnessed a rise of fifty percent when compared to the first half of 2011.

The pro forma total clean earning before deducting depreciation, tax, amortization and interest amounted up to 85.6 million Euros. This represents an increase of 18.2% from the same period of last year. On the other hand, the real figure showed an increase of eighty even percent from the first six months of last year.

Commenting on this outstanding performance, the Co Chief exec officer of Bwin.Party, Norbert Teufelberger stated that the focus that the company had in 2012 was to move forward with executing their new integration plans in order to guarantee the synergies committed to according to the merger, improve the main core of their operations and to secure a good position in the newly opened gambling markets.

He also added that the company succeeded in achieving the three goals despite the problems and the shifting in the regulations in many newly opened and regulated European markets. He also stated that their main focus is casino games and sport wagering.

Packer agrees to Consolidated Media sale - 7th September 2012...

James Packer is one step closer to selling out of all media interests after he agreed to News Corporation taking over Consolidated Media Holdings for just under $2 billion.

Consolidated Media has received a binding proposal from News to acquire the company for $3.45 cash per share, plus the right to its latest 6 cent dividend.

When the dividend is included, the offer is marginally higher than the $3.50 a share News Corp offered in June.

The board of Consolidated Media, of which James Packer is executive chairman, is recommending shareholders accept the revised offer from News Corporation.

"In my view, this is a great outcome for CMH shareholders and for News and it reflects a fair price," he noted in a statement.

A successful takeover by News will clear the way for Mr Packer, Consolidated's largest shareholder, to exit the last of his media ventures as he focuses on gambling interests.

However, the deal is subject to approval by Consolidated's smaller shareholders, which includes Kerry Stokes who owns more than 24 per cent of the company and has indicated in the past that the offer does not represent fair value.

To be successful the deal requires 75 per cent of shareholder votes in favour.

Consolidated Media owns a quarter of Foxtel and half of Fox Sports and, if the deal goes ahead, it will double News Corp's stake in Foxtel to 50 per cent and give it total ownership of Fox Sports.

The Richest Wrestlers in the World...

Who are the richest wrestlers in the world? For anyone whose parents say you’ll never make any money learning to take a folding chair to the face, immediately show them this list. Over the last 30 years, Vince McMahon has turned the WWE, formerly WWF, into one of most popular and profitable sports companies in the world. In the process McMahan has made dozens of wrestlers extremely rich. He also earned himself an astonishing personal fortune. Today, WWE Raw and SmackDown are consistently some of the top ten most viewed shows on cable television, attracting between four and six million viewers each week. WrestleMania XXVIII aired on April 1st 2012 and was the highest grossing event in the company’s history with nearly $70 million in pay per view revenues. But who are the richest wrestlers in the world?

***The figures contained in this list were acquired from all publicly available information including salaries, real estate holdings, divorces, record sales, royalties and endorsements. The final net worths come from a formula that takes out taxes, manager’s fees, agents’ fees, and lifestyle.***

***Hogan lost an estimated $25 million in his divorce from ex-wife Linda Hogan. Linda was awarded 70% of the couple’s liquid assets, a 40% stake in all of Hulk’s companies, six luxury cars and millions more in property***

The dust yet to settle after Prince Harry’s scandalous romp in Las Vegas last week; however, Wynn is already stating that there are no hard feelings. According to recent reports, the casino operator has stated that Prince Harry is welcome back to Wynn anytime. There is only one stipulation, however – and it applies to all high rollers: he must abide by the rules.

So, Wynn may change its mind when it gets wind of the most recent revelation about Prince Harry’s wild weekend. Reports from a source at the party claim that there were illicit drugs at the party which was held in the prince’s hotel room. Currently, these are only rumours; however, the threat of a video of the events could confirm the Royal Family’s worst nightmares.

And, things get even worse. It has recently been revealed that Carrie Lynn Reichert, one of the women who attended the party, is now in jail. After writing £12 000 worth of bad cheques, she has been taken in by local authorities. This news will certainly not fly well with the Royal Family or Wynn.